Carter Gordon picked up \u201ca little niggle\u201d during the Wallabies\u2019 26-19 Quilter Nations Series defeat to Italy, but the code-hopper doesn\u2019t expect to spend any more time on the sidelines, giving a positive update on the injury post-game.<\/p>\n
After signing a deal with Rugby Australia<\/a> and the Queensland Reds, Gordon had to wait a few weeks to return to the international arena, with reports suggesting the fly-half would\u2019ve faced Japan<\/a> or England<\/a> if it hadn\u2019t been for a quad injury.<\/p>\n Tane Edmed retained the starting role instead, while Western Force<\/a> midfielder Hamish Stewart<\/a> provided some playmaking cover off the pine. Edmed shifted to the bench for the clash with the Azzurri, while Gordon was named in the run-on side \u2013 two years on from the Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n Gordon hadn\u2019t played for the Wallabies since the 2023 Rugby World Cup, having left rugby union for an opportunity in the NRL after the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> season. The eight-Test Wallaby didn\u2019t look out of place back in Test rugby, even standing out on a tough night for the team.<\/p>\n Gordon made a stunning break up the field in the 15th minute, running through a giant gap before a wide pass to Paris Olympian Corey Toole<\/a> on the wing. In the second half, the 24-year-old showcased individual flair to score a crucial try.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt good. I loved every minute out there. Obviously, the result isn\u2019t what we wanted but super happy to be back playing with the boys,\u201d Gordon said post-game on Stan Sport.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been the camp or in the squad for a few weeks now and they\u2019ve really taken me under their arm and gotten me up to speed.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m obviously super grateful to be back playing with these boys again.\u201d<\/p>\n Gordon had been steering the ship well for the Wallabies before disaster struck. The pivot picked up an injury with a clearance kick for touch in the 55th minute, which saw Edmed come off the pine as a replacement.<\/p>\n Fans watched Gordon in the background of the broadcast reach for his quad before limping a bit, making this a real concern for the team ahead of two more Autumn internationals against Ireland<\/a> and France<\/a> in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, just a little niggle. Just being on the safe side with it,\u201d Gordon explained.<\/p>\n \u201cBeen nursing it for a few weeks now and just felt it a little bit there on that last kick but it should be all good to go.\u201d<\/p>\n After Gordon\u2019s effort in the 50th minute, Louis Lynagh<\/a> and Monty Ioane<\/a> scored two quick tries for Italy, who led by seven with a quarter of the match to play. Australia had their chances but literally couldn\u2019t quite get over the line \u2013 with Billy Pollard<\/a> almost scoring a try<\/p>\n The Wallabies have played 13 Test matches this year and had another two to go before their 2025 campaign comes to an end. They\u2019ll face Ireland this weekend at Dublin\u2019s Aviva Stadium, before their season finale against France.<\/p>\n \u201cThe boys are going to be hurting after that so it\u2019s important that we come together as a group,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going back to the drawing board, work out what we did well, what we did wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got two big Test matches coming up and they\u2019re super important for us so we need to come out two-from-two with those.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carter Gordon picked up \u201ca little niggle\u201d during the Wallabies\u2019 26-19 Quilter Nations Series defeat to Italy, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-274755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}